Telepsychiatry to Enable Expedited Disposition of Psychiatric Emergencies

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Psychiatric Emergency
• Interventions: Other: Telepsychiatry

• Registration Number: NCT05771545
• Lead Sponsor: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Brief Summary

The goal of this observational study is to examine the effect of using a video link for evaluation of patients in the psychiatric emergency room. Under current Israeli law, the attending physician must come in to physically examine the patient before they can be admitted involuntarily. Patients often de-compensate and even may become violent while waiting for the attending to arrive. Previous studies have shown that evaluation of such patients via video-link has an extremely high concordance with in person evaluation. This study will compare patients who are evaluated via video-link with historical controls evaluated under usual conditions. This is an observational study, which is taking advantage of a change in practice to collect data on two different ways of delivering care, via chart reviews. If successful, this study will show that the video-link is feasible and acceptable to patients and staff. The following hypotheses will be tested:

1. The intervention will result in shorter ED time compared to historical controls.

2. The intervention will result in fewer violent incidents compared to historical controls.

3. The intervention will result in shorter overall hospital length of stay compared to historical controls.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2023-03-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-03-14
• Study First Posted: 2023-03-16
• Study Start: 2023-07-01
• Primary Completion: 2024-12-30
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-02-19
• Last Update Posted: 2025-02-20
• Study Completion: 2026-06-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 800

Inclusion Criteria

• Must be evaluated in the psychiatric ED for potential involuntary admission

Exclusion Criteria

• Not justice-involved (i.e., brought in by police after committing a crime)

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Innovation (Tele-Psychiatry)	Telepsychiatry	Patients evaluated in the psychiatric emergency department for possible involuntary admission during the innovation period. Instead of physically coming to the hospital, the attending physician will evaluate the patient via video-link, which will be facilitated by the on-site psychiatric resident.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
ED Time	Patients arrive in the ED at a specific time and leave the ED at a specific time. We will compute the amount of time spent in the ED by each patient, up to two weeks.	Amount of time, in hours and minutes, that the patient spends in the ED prior to disposition

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Violent Incidents	Patients arrive in the ED at a specific time. Those who are admitted are eventually discharged. Violent incidents can occur during the entire time spent in the hospital, whether in the ED or on the ward, up to 90 days total.	Adjudicated violent incidents that occur, whether in the ED or on the psychiatry ward. Includes hitting, kicking, throwing, and property destruction
Hospital Length of Stay	For patients admitted to the hospital through the ED, the beginning time is their arrival to ED, the end is the time of hospital discharge, up to 90 days later.	Length of stay, in days, starting with time of arrival to ED

Trial Locations

Locations (8)

HaEmek Medical Center; 🇮🇱 Afula, Israel

Jerusalem Mental Health Center - Eitanim; 🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem Mental Health Center; 🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel

Shaar Menashe Psychiatric Hospital; 🇮🇱 Pardés H̱anna Karkur, Israel

Geha Psychiatric Hospital; 🇮🇱 Petah tikva, Israel

Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center; 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv, Israel

Ziv Medical Center; 🇮🇱 Zefat, Israel

Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center; 🇮🇱 Ẕur Moshe, Israel